A new Castlevania game might be on the horizon, as suggested by a recent Konami trademark. This development arrives mere days after Konami acknowledged the fandom's pleas for a new Castlevania game following a fairly successful Dead Cells DLC that featured a crossover with the long-dormant franchise.Started in 1986, the Dracula-centric series is widely credited with popularizing the metroidvania genre whose very name is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania. Though this specific genre isn't as prevalent in its purest form as it once was, many of its staples — exploration-focused gameplay driven by interconnected levels that open up as players acquire new skills — still permeate games to this date. And while some popular modern titles like FromSoftware's Soulslikes continue to carry the Castlevania legacy forward, the last mainline installment in the franchise was the 2014 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, which received mixed responses from both critics and fans alike.The idea that Konami might be preparing a Castlevania comeback following a decade-long hiatus comes from a recently unearthed "Project Zircon" trademark that the company filed in Japan on March 7. Discovered by Gematsu, the IP filing contains the typical video game software designation, although its only connection to the iconic series is that Zircons appear as a type of gemstones in some Castlevania games. Consequently, the very notion that this trademark might point to a new Castlevania installment is somewhat of a stretch, and even if it does, there's no guarantee a new title will be coming anytime soon. After all, fans are still waiting for Konami to do anything with a much less mysterious Zone of the Enders trademark that it renewed in 2020.
Konami has been downsizing its traditional game development efforts in favor of a larger focus on arcades ever since its fallout with Hideo Kojima during the development of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, which released in 2015. Some industry watchers predicted that the company might reevaluate this strategy once its pachinko ventures took a pandemic-induced hit due to the lockdowns. While this possibly Castlevania-related trademark and the recently confirmed revival of the Silent Hill series seem to suggest those predictions are now coming true, Konami's financial situation is actually better than ever, with the company posting both record revenue and profits for its previous fiscal year, which it ended over $550 million in the green.
Regardless, seeing how the positive response to the recent Dead Cells DLC and the success of the Netflix Castlevania anime both suggest that the franchise continues to enjoy a cult following, a new installment in the series doesn't seem to be outside the realm of possibility. But what remains to be seen is whether the "Project Zircon" trademark is actually hinting at a Castlevania comeback, assuming this filing ever amounts to anything at all.
Source: Konami (PDF)